Ain't No Sunshine
by Nuttyginger
Summary: *FINAL CHP Added* What is harder to take? Loss or the Guilt Of Loss? Can Life Really Go On?
1. Promises, Promises

A very short story that sprung from Inspiration!… Where that inspiratin came from is beyond me…most things are.

Disclaimer: Not mine…you had to spoil the fantasy. They belong to Joss (stupid name) David (copied name) and Mutant (grr, arr) Enemy (scary name)

_Piece of Wisdom:_ **Just 'cos it's SUMMER…don't mean it's SUNNY!**

Ain't No Sunshine… 

* Nutty *

The rain poured from overhead, each drop like her own tears. Tears were falling out of hate she had done this to him, hate that he had done this to her and grief for her friend that was now gone. Her heart broke in two at the betrayal and the loss her heart was bearing. She couldn't even feel the water as it fell on her clothes and filtered through to her skin. Even the shudder that snaked its way up her spine was not enough to pull this brave woman from her grief. Why did he have to do it? Why couldn't he have came to her and told that he was Hell bent on making it all right again? If she had known she never would have told him but she did. Now his life was over and nobody would be there to share it all with her. Her baby would grow up without a father, without knowing what a good man he was. She would blow to the size of a balloon and he wouldn't be there to tease her about it all. No, he was gone and it was all her fault.

She had made him a promise he begged her to keep. It went against everything that she believed in and to do it took of her resolve and determination now he was just dust in the rain, washed away before she had a chance to mourn. It was just like everyone else she knew, all dead. Willow had died in a car crash with Xander, they were heading into LA to see one of Oz's gigs when a 10 tonne truck decided to take them on and it won. The shock to her heart had been dramatic. They had survived so much together; high school, the hell mouth, various splits and reunions and now they were gone. Dawn evaporated one day into her ball of energy now that the hellmouth was sealed and that Glory had been removed once and for all. The balance between light and darkness once again equal but her light was slowly fading. Angel stood by her side and now she felt invincible. At last her dreams were coming true. Her true love stood by her side and they fought in battle, even Giles was there…well he never could resist a Hellmouth. They all fought side by side until now. 

A crack of thunder overhead finally caught her attention and she looked up into the black sky. The heavens were mourning with her, at their loss of a warrior. 'Where was his Shansu now?' She felt like shouting, as if they would hear her. How would she cope without him? The Powers had screwed her over again and this time she wasn't let them get away with it.

A light hand clasped on her shoulder. The stake fell from her hand to where the ashes would have been and stopped dead. 

            "Come on Cordelia, let's go."

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Well I know I knocked it up in under an hour but the thunder and lighting show we have just had has made me depressed. Snow in July…it's meant to be summer. Any reviews for me…give me smiles!


	2. She Fights On

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Ain't No Sunshine

Chapter 2 - She Fights On

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Wesley's PoV

It's been 4 long months since Angel…since Angel passed away. Cordelia is 5 months pregnant now and showing a little bump. We decided together that it would be best for her to stop slaying as she started to show. I have taken up a roll similar to Giles in his relationship with Buffy. I protect Cordelia, council her and help her out in any way I can. We all live here now. Me, Cordelia and Faith. I am glad that Faith is here. We put aside our differences in the face of adversity and realising it was all up to us now. Cordelia didn't want to stop fighting for the good cause but she made it perfectly clear that we weren't fighting for the Powers That Be anymore; We were fighting because people needed our help. The visions still came and we kept fighting them. Me, Faith and Cordelia. Gunn had gone long before Angel died. It was a natural progression. He was finished with fighting and wanted to settle down with a girl he met. We still see him from time to time, about twice a month. Faith and Cordelia also settled their grievances with each other. 

Faith was torn apart when she found out about Angels death. It happened the day before she was realised on parole. She came straight here and cried in my arms for hours. Now she was out of prison she was scared that she couldn't stick to her road of redemption without Angel to keep her on track. I suggested that she stayed with us in the hotel until we could sort out something better for her. Cordelia had been furious with me but realised that the hotel was just as much my home as it was hers. Slowly Faith and Cordelia buried their strife with each other, united in grieve for a man they both loved in different ways. Cordelia and Faith train together, go shopping together and Faith is slowly settling into her new ways as a normal human. She craves the routine we can offer her, some normality in her life. I think we, Cordelia and I, can empathise with Faith. We were all outsiders that had built world of our own where we belong.

It's Cordelia I worry about. She hasn't cried since that night and she refuses to talk about it. She says it's because she wants to concentrate on Kate, her baby girl. Angel always wanted a girl. I hear Cordelia sitting in the nursery, whispering to her stomach about Angel. She has pictures and drawings of him all over the wall of her room and the nursery next door. She tells Kate of how they fell in love and solved his curse. She makes it sound like a fairy tale, which in essence I guess it is. They overcame everything to be together only to be pulled apart too soon. I know that Cordelia blames herself for his death. The Powers had told her that they had erased the curse and that they could be together now. So they did, the night that Kate was conceived, the night Angel had died. But the curse wasn't gone. It was there, just as strong as before and with the volume of happiness Cordelia had brought to Angel there was no way to prevent him. Angel had ran out into the rain, his soul being torn from his body. Cordelia had sort my helping tracking him down. We found him in an alley just off 5th and 27th street. He was in anguish begging Cordelia to fulfil her promise to him. She had stepped forward and stroked his face, saying their last goodbye, as she plunged the stake through his heart.

I can see her sitting in the office, reading one of Angel's many books to the filling stomach. She says it brings it closer to him. They couldn't be any closer. I have been reading the scrolls again. I don't think that they were wrong and I still firmly believe that the Powers will give Angle his Shansu. I'm scared to be wrong again but I think Angel is coming back…human. I don't trust the Powers anymore. They have taken everything away from us and I very much doubt they consider our feelings when they make their decisions especially after Cordelia told them, in her very frank way, where to shove their fight. I'm scared to tell her in case I am wrong, I simply couldn't do that to her, break her heart all over again. But I am also scared that she will go back to being a warrior, keeping Angel's name alive and end up dead or worse herself. I guess for once I will have to let the Powers play their game and see what the outcome is.

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Part 3 already on it's way…last chapter!

Let me know what you think please and anything you may want to see in the next chapter. Thanks Nutty


	3. Home Again

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Ain't No Sunshine

Chapter 3 - Home Again

Wesley. Ohmygod Ohmygod Ohmygod. Wesley, where are you? WESLEY!" 

Wesley poked his head out of his office. "Goodness Cordelia. What is all the shouting about? What's going on?"

"I'll tell you what's happening. I'm having a baby here. It's coming now and no leg crossing is going to stop it. AHHHH!" Cordelia crumbled to her feet as another contraction ripped through her.

"What's all the noise about? Some people were up all night on patrol." Faith shouted from the balcony, her brown tussled hair framing her face. 

"Cordelia appears to have gone into labour. Grab the bag from the nursery; I'll go get the car. Cordelia just sit there and relax." He guided her over to the couch and plumped the cushions behind her.

"RELAX! Easy for you to say. You don't have a baby forcing itself down you're pelvis.

Wesley shook his head at her and ran towards the underground garage. A few seconds later the car stopped in front of the hotel door and Faith emerged with Cordelia bent over double. The both climbed into the back of the convertible. Wesley slammed his foot onto the gas pedal and sped up towards the hospital. Faith had phoned ahead in the car so a nurse was waiting for them with a wheelchair, which Cordelia gratefully lowered herself into. 

"Now sir, are you the father?" The nurse asked him, holding a bunch of forms. 

Wesley looked almost alarmed. "No I am her best friend."

The nurse tutted. "We need a relative to fill out Miss Chase's medical forms. She **does have **medical insurance doesn't she?"

"There is no family. I can fill them in. Oh and nurse, maybe you would like to call Ms Nevard, Cordelia's mid-wife."

The nurse turned away, looking mortified. Wesley smiled to himself, sitting down in the waiting area filled with anxious fathers and filled in the pile of forms.

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In the Delivery Room

"AHHH!" Cordelia cried. "Get this thing out of me!"

Faith stood beside Cordelia, holding her hand and glad for her slayer's pain threshold.

"Ok on the next contraction I need you to push down really hard. The baby's head is showing and she's getting anxious. We really need to get her out of Cordelia.

"What do you think I've been trying to here the last 20 hours." Cordelia growled at the mid-wife.

"Honey, we've only been here for 4 hours." Faith swore Cordelia gripped her hand tighter.

Cordelia could feel the contraction coming. 1,2,3, she counted in her head and then pushed as if hell was opening up right in front of her. Cordelia pushed down with all the strength she had, which was not much by now, until she heard the crying of her baby girl, fresh into the world. Before she could stop them, the tears stated to fall from her eyes. Faith knew what she was thinking and she was thinking it too: If only it was Angel here to hear the first cries of his baby girl instead of her. Cordelia started to look around, waiting for them to put the crying bundle of joy into her arms but she never came.

"What's. What's going on?" Cordelia asked, starting to get worried. "Where's my daughter? Where's Katelyn?"

"Try not to worry. She was a little yellow when she came out so the doctors are just checking her out." The mid-wife reassured her as she tried to check Cordelia over.

"Oh my god. I've read about that. It's jaundice. It means she has liver damage or something is wrong with her kidney's." Tears started to form in Cordelia's eyes.

"Calm down Cordelia." The mid-wife said softly. "We knew there wasn't enough fluid in the womb for the baby. That's what has caused the jaundice. A few hours under a sunlight and she should be just fine."

Cordelia breathed a sigh of relief. Faith wandered back over from where the doctors were, her eyes glassy with unshed tears.

"You should see her Cordy, she's so beautiful. Looks just like her daddy, crumpled forehead and all. She has a mop of dark brown hair. She's gonna be a heart-breaker CC…"

"Just like her daddy huh." Cordelia muttered soft as the nurse placed the pink bundle in her arms.

Cordelia felt her heart fill to bursting point. In her arms was a perfect replica of Angel. Her little bundle of miracle joy. Her tiny hands clasped around Cordelia's as Katelyn looked up at her mommy with a red face and intense brown eyes. Cordelia could do little to stop the tears from falling down her face, dropping to Katelyn's blanket. 

"Do we have a name for baby Chase?" The nurse asked, holding a baby identity bracelet.

"Katelyn Angel Chase." Cordelia smiled at the mention of her lover's name, but at the same time her heart felt sadness seep in but one look at Katelyn banished it away. "God, I wish Angel was here so much. He deserved to see her when she was born. She'll grow up knowing who is. I owe him that much at least."

"You know he would have been here if he could of. He loved you so much. When he visited me, he would be filled of stories of how you had snuck in blue and red shirts into his wardrobe or how you has mixed in your red-fish nets in with his white wife beaters turning them all pink. Most of all he talked about how you made him smile and laugh and he asked my advice on how to ask you out to dinner. I told him that stuttering wouldn't be a good idea!" Cordelia giggled. "None of it was your fault, the whole Angelus thing. The Powers screwed you and we've dealt right.

Cordelia nodded, never talking her eyes from Katelyn. "I know Faith, trust me, I know but I can't help but wish."

Wesley had taken Faith home an hour ago after many more ohh's and ahh's so that Cordelia could finally get some sleep. Her sleep was fitful though. She was dreaming of Angel, Katelyn and herself all sunbathing on the beach, watching her sea lapping just below there feet. Katelyn was sitting in the shade with pink sun cream on her nose and building a sand castle while Angel sat beside Cordelia, rubbing sun cream into her shoulders. Cordelia could almost feel the sun on her back and Angel's big hands kneading the tension her shoulders. Slowly reality soaked in as the sleep left her. As she woke she could see a figure standing in her room, cradling a bundle in his arms. The haze blocked his face so she rubbed her eyes clean.

"Angel?" She whispered.

The figure in her room turned towards her. She could see him, his face less pale, in a beige jumper and his trademark duster. The bundle in his arms was his daughter.

"You're not real. I saw you…"

He didn't utter a word, instead he placed his hand to her face, cupping it and bringing her eyes to meet his. Cordelia folded her hand over his and took in a quick gasp.

"You're Alive."

He simply smiled and nodded. He was home at last.

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Well that's all folks. Took me a while (couple of months) so tell me what you think….Flames welcomed.


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